Kakegawa Cherry Blossoms in Full Bloom and the Doll Festival at Kasuisai Temple

Kakegawa Cherry Blossoms in Full Bloom and the Doll Festival at Kasuisai Temple

Beautiful branching 😊 Hello. Today I came to Kakegawa Castle to see the Kakegawa cherry blossoms in full bloom. First, we will start from the Ote-mon gate here, aiming at the castle tower seen over there. This Ote-mon gate is a reconstruction, but very beautiful😊The shachihoko tiles are also big👍

I always feel like I’m going back in time when I walk through the Ote-mon Gate 😚 I have been checking the blooming information for about half a month, and today, it is finally in full bloom.

Kakegawa Cherry Blossom is an early blooming cherry tree. 300 cherry trees are planted along 2 km of the Sakagawa River. At night, the rows of cherry trees from this bridge to the next bridge and Kakegawa Castle are illuminated.

The trees as a whole are in full bloom, but the trees in the foreground are not in full bloom. The blooming situation varies from place to place and tree to tree, though. Overall, it seems like they are in full bloom from the far side. There are still a lot of buds.

The bulbul is complaining about something🐤 Kakegawa cherry blossoms are characterized by their downward facing blossoms that hang down from the branches. This leafy cherry tree is probably Kawazu-zakura, and the tree that is not blooming at all is Someiyoshino.

Early blooming cherry trees are Atami cherry trees, Kawazu cherry trees, Tairyo cherry trees, and Kakegawa cherry trees, in that order. Someiyoshino will bloom in two weeks. I honestly cannot tell the difference between Atami cherry blossoms and Kawazu cherry blossoms, but I can tell the difference because these Kakegawa cherry blossoms bloom face down.

Kakegawa castle over the cherry blossoms. Kakegawa cherry trees other than Someiyoshino in the foreground are in full bloom here on the west side. Blossoms on some trees are beginning to fall. According to the locals, the flowering is not so good this year.

This is the second time for me to see Kakegawa cherry blossoms after last year. I think last year’s was better. Is it because of the warm winter? Today, March 3, 2024, the time is 9:30 am. I plan to be here today until 5:30pm when the illumination begins, so I have plenty of time.

I have 8 hours to go😅 We have plenty of time to climb the keep! Ninja-san says the ticket allows us to enter both the keep and the palace. Tickets are 410 yen. First, let’s go to the keep! The keep is a reconstruction, but it is the first wooden reconstruction in Japan.

The white walls are beautiful against the blue sky. The aristocratic beauty of the castle tower has been described as “the great castle of the Tokai region. I love historical dramas, and I cannot help but think of Kazutoyo Yamauchi and his wife Chiyo, who became the lord of Kakegawa Castle in “Koumei ga Tsuji”.

From the window, we can see the row of cherry trees we just walked along and the ticket booth in the foreground. From another window, Mt. And the palace. We came to the palace. Beautiful… The castle keep is only used for battles, the lord is usually in the palace.

Today is March 3, Dolls’ Festival, a day to wish children happiness and healthy growth. This palace was rebuilt about 160 years ago. This room is where the lord of the castle meets with his retainers. The pair of cranes represents marital bliss. Chiyo and Kazutoyo…

There are only four places in Japan where there is a castle and the palace still remains, including Nijo Castle in Kyoto. A valuable experience😊 Oh – bamboo lanterns. This armor was donated by Ryotaro Sugi, singer and actor.

I first learned about this through the Noto earthquake, but Ryotaro Sugi has spent billions of yen to volunteer his time in countries around the world. Ryotaro Sugi miraculously obtained this castle lord’s helmet more than 300 years ago. There was a miniature of a daimyo’s procession.

A daimyo’s procession to show off his wealth and power to the world. At last, a lord… The daimyo’s procession looks very expensive, but maybe that’s how the economy was running. Time is 10:30. It took only one hour to see the castle tower and the palace. Only 7 more hours until illumination😅

I don’t always leave the house with a precise plan. Today’s plan is “relax at Kakegawa Castle” I was going to go to the teahouse where Sota Fujii played Shogi, but it was so crowded that I gave up.

Last year, we went to Tatsuo Shrine and Kakegawa Kachoen. Today is just March 3, the day of the Hina Matsuri (Doll Festival). We have come to Kasuisai, a temple deeply related to Ieyasu Tokugawa. As expected, many people with children are here. The gate and statues of Kasuisai are beautiful.

All of the statues at Kasuisai are a must-see. This dragon is also amazing. This is the main hall, where the tablets of Ieyasu Tokugawa are enshrined. The origin of Kasuisai is that Ieyasu told a monk who had dozed off that he could go to sleep.

The painting shows Ieyasu as a child and his educator, the monk, on the right, and Ieyasu as a lord and the dozing monk, on the left. Miniature of the main hall 😊 There are an amazing number of hina dolls. Some interesting hina dolls. This one is inspired by the Tale of Genji.

Kaiawase, a game in which Heian aristocrats composed poems and played Cranes look as if they are alive. Indoor peony garden. Outdoor peony garden is open from mid-April. One of the largest in Japan, with 32 tiers and 1,200 hina dolls 😊 These hina dolls were delivered at a doll memorial service.

The Kasuisai Doll Festival is held in the hope of “giving life once again to the hina dolls that have completed their role. Doll memorial service begins. After this, everyone who came to the event burned incense in turn. Kasuisai Doll Festival, the most enjoyable and valuable experience I could have imagined 🙏

Back to Kakegawa from Kasuisai. It is now 4:00 pm. Only one and a half hours to go until the illumination. For some reason, there are no white-eyes here, all we see are bulbul. A local gave me some tips on how to see the Kakegawa cherry blossoms.

1. the flowers bloom downward, so look up from below. 2. beautiful in the western sun. 3. the illuminated castle and cherry blossoms are beautiful. Looking at the cherry blossoms from below 😚 Cherry blossoms in the western sun 😊 How do you like it? Maybe a little less flowers this year.

The sun will soon set. Personally, I like this silhouette of the castle and the cherry blossoms. It is now 6:15 PM. It took longer to get dark than I expected. With many other photographers, shivering in the cold, we waited for it to get dark. Kakegawa cherry blossoms bloom downward.

You can see the castle illuminated. I love the magic hour after sunset, when the sky is faintly bright. That magic hour is only about 10 minutes long. If I fall over, all bets are off😅

If you make it to the next lamppost, you should be able to see the beautiful castle through the cherry blossoms. Thank you again for watching the video to the end. See you again in the next video.

Today, I went to Kakegawa Castle to see the Kakegawa cherry blossoms in full bloom.
Some of the trees had begun to fall, but there were still many buds, so I think they will be in full bloom for a few more days.

We visited the castle tower and the palace, but there was still time before the illumination, so we also went to the Hinamatsuri (Girls’ Festival) at the Kasuisai (Japanese Doll Festival).
It was an unexpectedly enjoyable and spectacular festival.

00:00 Opening
01:03 Ote-mon Gate – Sakagawa River
06:20 Kakegawa Castle Keep
08:21 Palace
12:45 Kasuisai Temple
14:37 Kasuisai Hina Festival – Indoor Peony Garden – Japan’s Largest Hina Dolls – Doll Memorial Service
17:16 Kakegawa Cherry Blossoms in the Western Sun
19:45 Illuminated Kakegawa cherry blossoms and Kakegawa Castle

Kakegawa Tourist Association HP https://www.kakegawa-kankou.com/news/18070/#
Kasuisai Temple official HP https://www.kasuisai.or.jp/

Date taken : March 3, 2024
Camera : SONY ZV-E10
Lens : SELP1650
Resolution : 4K

*Using Google Translate. Therefore, please be aware that there may be typos or omissions.
*Please note that the information in the video may not be 100% accurate.

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